[0:00] It is Monday, August 31st, at 6:00 p.m.

[0:03] I am Jeffrey Wooden. I'm joined tonight

[0:04] by Mrs. Westfall. Miss Hickman could not

[0:06] be with us tonight. We have one item on

[0:08] our agenda.

[0:10] We are revisiting a recommendation to

[0:11] council regarding authorizing the

[0:13] director of public service and safety to

[0:15] enter into a professional services

[0:16] services agreement with American

[0:18] Structure Point for the redesign of

[0:20] phase one and phase three at Duke Park

[0:22] for cost not to exceed $615,000.

[0:26] This was recommended by the park board.

[0:28] Mr. Tinnerton, can you give a rehash for

[0:30] those who may not have been here last

[0:31] week?

[0:32] » Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You had

[0:33] asked that this go to another committee

[0:36] with the opportunity to look at uh

[0:39] our recommended

[0:41] proposal, American Structure Point. We

[0:44] did include an amended packet, a revised

[0:47] packet, that proposal.

[0:50] Uh it's fairly straightforward. Um

[0:53] American Structure Point had

[0:55] drafted a Park and Recreation Master

[0:58] Plan that was adopted by the the park

[1:02] board.

[1:04] The first priority that they that the

[1:06] council and the Park and Recreation

[1:08] boards decided was to do a deep dive

[1:12] into

[1:13] the Duke Park and look at any kind of

[1:16] redesign to make that park more

[1:18] efficient, especially when it came to

[1:20] multi-purpose fields as well as baseball

[1:24] fields

[1:25] while keeping the other amenities that

[1:27] we have at the park and perhaps

[1:30] improving some of them.

[1:31] The 2026 budget did include an

[1:34] allocation or does include an allocation

[1:38] for phase one and phase three.

[1:40] The

[1:42] the staff as well as a couple members of

[1:44] the park board um

[1:47] did um

[1:48] issue a request for qualifications, an

[1:51] RFQ. We received nine different

[1:54] proposals. They evaluated, scored, uh

[1:58] analyzed and scored those, um

[2:01] interviewed the top five firms that

[2:04] submitted. Uh after that first set of

[2:07] interviews, they narrowed it down to

[2:09] three uh interviews. Um

[2:12] ultimately, unanimously

[2:15] um recommending to the park board uh

[2:18] American Structural Point, who again had

[2:21] done the um

[2:22] park and recreation master plan and was

[2:26] fairly familiar with

[2:28] a lot of the elements and the issues

[2:30] that uh we uh the council is uh trying

[2:33] to address.

[2:35] Um it was a unanimous decision of the

[2:37] park board to recommend American

[2:39] Structural Point. Um the criteria in the

[2:43] ORC RFQs are done a little bit

[2:46] differently than uh

[2:48] uh construction bidding.

[2:51] Um

[2:51] and uh uh but the criteria is the best

[2:56] and most qualified. And in doing the

[2:58] scoring, um

[3:00] the staff and the park board came to the

[3:03] conclusion that American Structural

[3:04] Point was the uh the best and most

[3:06] qualified. Uh it is a uh

[3:09] a big a large firm. It is um it has done

[3:13] other projects for the uh city,

[3:15] including their work on the UDC. The

[3:18] project team is in the uh

[3:21] uh the project team uh

[3:23] that is being proposed for uh from

[3:26] Structural Point to do this project is

[3:28] not uh the same lead on the uh on the

[3:32] UDC

[3:33] uh zoning sign. It's uh and uh

[3:36] uh subdivision regulations primarily. Um

[3:39] and so they are separate divisions.

[3:42] Um there's uh leadership overlap, of

[3:44] course, but um the um

[3:47] uh the the daily

[3:49] uh and the the front line uh folks are

[3:52] are different as well. You did mention

[3:55] 615,000. That's what the That's what

[3:58] Structural Point estimated. That's the

[4:00] number that they gave us.

[4:03] And phase two would be to for the

[4:07] council to look at the design and then

[4:10] authorize creating construction

[4:12] documents so that we can go to the next

[4:14] step. Why it went phase one, three, and

[4:16] then two, I don't know. I

[4:20] not sure why they they did it that way,

[4:21] but that that is the way.

[4:23] Um

[4:25] We are not asking for emergency

[4:29] legislation.

[4:31] » Uh I asked Mr. Davis last week, but the

[4:33] rough time that would be 8 months that

[4:35] would they would be in the design phase

[4:36] before we would see anything back. And

[4:39] after that point in time, would we have

[4:40] public hearings on the design to allow

[4:42] the public input on what they they came

[4:44] up with?

[4:45] » Uh you could.

[4:46] Um

[4:47] you know, it

[4:48] Whatever would come back to the to the

[4:51] committee, if that's committee of the

[4:53] whole, if it's this committee, that's up

[4:55] to the president of council, but that

[4:57] would be an opportunity to

[4:59] uh unveil all the designs and then get

[5:02] some as much as input as you'd like to

[5:05] get.

[5:05] » Okay.

[5:06] Uh Mr. Westfall, do you have any

[5:07] follow-up questions?

[5:08] » Was my concern whether we would get

[5:10] public input.

[5:12] » Uh do any other members of council have

[5:14] any questions?

[5:16] Do any members of the public have any

[5:18] questions or comments?

[5:21] Please come forward. Name and address,

[5:22] please.

[5:25] » Dana Schilling, uh 1 West Franklin

[5:28] Street, Troy, Ohio.

[5:30] Um I just want to say I mean, I think

[5:33] it's you got wonderful parks in out at

[5:36] Duke already. I've had grandkids playing

[5:39] ball, soccer,

[5:41] dogs in the park, and all that stuff.

[5:46] You know what you don't have is the Troy

[5:49] Park that anybody that comes to town and

[5:52] might meander around sees. The Troy Park

[5:57] needs some work. To spend more money at

[6:00] Duke

[6:01] before you do anything to the play

[6:03] equipment at the main park is is kind of

[6:07] I just kind of silly.

[6:09] For one thing, even if you before I said

[6:11] even if you just fix the surfacing

[6:14] I don't know if you've ever been to

[6:15] Vandalia, to Sydney, to

[6:18] Springfield all of those have like a

[6:22] a foam I can't I it's not foam but it's

[6:25] kind of a soft material.

[6:28] Um or they have turf.

[6:31] This isn't even handicap accessible in

[6:34] in um

[6:36] that

[6:38] wood chip stuff.

[6:39] Um I think you ought to consider at

[6:42] least if you can't afford playground

[6:44] equipment fix the surfacing where

[6:49] the kids are playing so it's a

[6:51] uh you know, you get tired of coming

[6:52] home with your grandkids or great

[6:54] grandkids with

[6:55] all these wood chips all over them and

[6:58] it's just a mess. So, would you consider

[7:01] doing something with that?

[7:03] » So, you said Troy Park. Do you mean

[7:05] Community Park?

[7:05] » The municipal park Troy Park.

[7:07] » All right. Across from uh Hobart Arena.

[7:09] » Right. That one. Yeah. The municipal

[7:10] » So, um there is funding in this year's

[7:14] budget. Uh we recently replaced the

[7:19] playground equipment at Duke Park last

[7:21] year.

[7:22] Uh we are replacing Community Park's

[7:25] playground equipment this year which

[7:28] will also include a um a turf surface

[7:33] uh underneath it. So, that all will be

[7:36] upgraded.

[7:37] » For both sides of that then?

[7:39] » Uh I haven't seen the whole footprint

[7:42] and and what it's going to look like but

[7:44] it'll be a different configuration and

[7:46] so you know

[7:48] I there's one amenity that that

[7:52] everyone wanted to keep out there as

[7:54] part of the playground equipment but

[7:55] everything else is being replaced. It

[7:57] will be ADA accessible and it will have

[8:00] the uh

[8:01] » Okay.

[8:01] » The turf surface.

[8:03] » And at some point in time you were

[8:04] talking about putting a splash pad in. I

[8:07] can't think of a better place to put a

[8:09] splash pad in than at the municipal park

[8:13] where

[8:14] kids that don't have a lot of money

[8:16] they they live close by they can ride

[8:18] their bicycles and just come by splash

[8:20] and wet like today would be great. But

[8:24] you know there's plenty of room in that

[8:25] area to do that too.

[8:28] And still not involve the you know if

[8:31] you want to play frisbee or something I

[8:32] don't think it's going to bother that

[8:33] but well thanks for that. I'm glad

[8:35] you're considering it. Would you please

[8:38] make a trip down to Vandalia especially

[8:41] down behind Kroger's the brand new one

[8:43] they put in and see that has a splash

[8:45] pad but it also has the

[8:48] uh I think it has turf there. And that

[8:51] healthy school is another one that would

[8:53] really be good to research so you can

[8:55] see what they're doing and thank you.

[8:58] » Thank you.

[8:59] » We still are waiting uh the final park

[9:01] and recreation master plan uh to come in

[9:04] from uh the park board that needs to go

[9:06] to them first with all the amenities. If

[9:07] you guys recall I'm sure many of you

[9:09] filled out the survey last summer. Uh

[9:12] they're still working through all of

[9:13] that to see what amenities were kind of

[9:15] where they were ranked and what we want

[9:16] to do. At the top of that list was Duke

[9:19] Park um

[9:20] which is why we're here today

[9:22] uh with the flooding of the baseball

[9:23] field so that's where that that survey

[9:25] has led us here to today so

[9:28] um

[9:29] Do any other members of the public have

[9:31] any other questions or comments?

[9:34] » Do you have a recommendation?

[9:35] » To move forward?

[9:36] » Uh it is unanimous to move forward. Is

[9:38] there anything else to come before the

[9:39] committee tonight?

[9:40] » No, sir.

[9:40] » We stand adjourned.

Recreation & Parks Committee for 8/31/2026

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